The Hiptones – ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’

OK these guys are cool.  Not in the modern sense of the word, but more in the vernacular circa 1950s, like “Frank Sinatra is a cool cat”.  The Hiptones blend contemporary Australian blues and roots with a New Orleans sense of funk and soul.  Hammond organ and guitar thick with slap-back echo create a mood akin to a hazy lounge bar.

Vocalist Snooks La Vie, utilising the great vintage sounds of old-school microphones, has a smoky R&B style voice that suits the retro-inspired music of the band.  The 62 T-bird. the clothes and the music all scream retro, and the band are riding the current pre-60s trend that acts such as The Basics are leading the way in.  It was through a glowing review of their debut album Right Now in The Brag magazine in Sydney that I decided to give these guys a chance, and it is one of the coolest (there’s that word again) albums I’ve heard in quite a while.

They’ve recently signed to Sony BMG, but from what I can tell this Adelaide four piece has been kicking around since 2001.  But info on their beginnings is fairly hazy, but they’ve supported Chris Isaac and played at a number of jazz festivals.  They’ve got a previous recording to their name – Meet Me At The Sands – but I reckon you’d be hard-pressed to actually find a copy of it.

The coolest cats this side of the equator.

http://www.thehiptones.com
http://www.myspace.com/thehiptones

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Cut Copy – ‘Hearts On Fire’

New track from my favourite Modular band, Cut Copy returns with a track that could easily be taken out of Bright Like Neon Love album, and towards the end of the song, a baseline straight out of New Order’s songbook. Perhaps it’s a cue for party djs to drop True Faith? Some might think it’s more of the same, but I’m digging this. No word on the album yet but they’re trekking around the country and Singapore on the Good Vibrations Festival.

Update: I’ve just received word that Cut Copy has released this track ahead of the rest of the album to coincide with their Good Vibes dates and a Nokia promotion tie in. They’re flying to NY after the festival to record their album to be out in July, but before all that happens this Friday (tomorrow!) they are playing a FREE set at Melbourne’s Federation square as part of their Nokia promo to showcase their new material, starts at 7.30pm.

www.myspace.com/cutcopy

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Teenager – ‘Alone Again’

We’ve covered what one half of Pnau, Pete Mayes did with himself, this is the other side / new project. Nick Littlemore has kept himself busy with dj gigs, producing The Valentinos and Damn Arms, and working on this new band Teenager, not to be confused with The Teenagers or even teenagersintokyo. I’m not sure how long the album took to record but it was at least a good year and a half before I heard anything new from them since they released Liquid Cement on a compilation made by Sydney’s FBi Radio. This track features the guitarist Pip doing vocal duties.

www.myspace.com/teenagerband

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photo by Sir Wheatley

Muscles – ‘Ice Cream’

I’m risking overloading on Muscles goodness here, but he’s worth the hype. Last time we wrote on the trance boy wonder I said that he was taking time off to rejig his live set up as a band. That was the plan I believe until he just got more and more gig offers. Now there’s a national tour on the cards in April with a certain big Australian band I’m not supposed to blog yet. Anyway, the thought of seeing him with a full live band is pretty exciting. Last week I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of what his sound/setup could be in the near future.

Muscles was headlining Click Click on Saturday, he’s played there maybe twice before so this time a week before the gig he made an open call on myspace for ‘band members’ to perform the first three songs during his set: Marshmellow, One Inch Badge Pin and Ice Cream. The stage was packed with an 8 (or maybe more) guest musicians including photographer/muso Ryan Wheatley of Learn The Splits, Tranter of Gameboy/Gamegirl, the guys from Julian Nation and Popolice both of whom supported the bill, another band I didn’t quite catch the name off, and resident party animal Phil Burns.

It was quite an impromptu and very candid set up, everyone was given lyric sheets with the major chord changes in it, though I don’t think anyone paid much attention to any of it and just sorta jammed through the set following Chris Muscles’ lead on the keyboard riff. There were no prior rehearsals so some in band weren’t sure when to dive in for their parts, but I must say the rhythm section did very well with Wheatley’s backing vocals giving One Inch Badge Pin a much thicker singalong texture that was a highlight of the set for me.

More on Muscles.

http://www.myspace.com/musclesmusic

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photo by boudist.com

It’s now only three hundred and fifty something days until the next Big Day Out, and if you had the kind of day I did you are going to need every one of those days to recover! Big Day Out 2007 has come and gone along with the entourage of international artists who flew south for the occasion. For the curious, the off shore acts that wowed were synth tinkers Hot Chip and English egos Kasabian.

I arrived with two friends after some very early drinks (in true Big Day Out spirit, though it just happened to be the day of my birth too) though almost instantly I found myself solo. My friends had scampered off ahead to see central coasters Something With Numbers reporting back later that they were surprised at the size of the crowd that were at the stage, (this being a worthy call considering they’ve been long term fans from the beginning). The band was ecstatic to be at this gig, and security could control the fans invading the stage in excitement.

Meanwhile, I made my way to Scribe at the main stage. It was an interesting decision having this huge kiwi rap lord play on the main stage considering he hasn’t released anything since 2005 (his second full length album is due out this year). Scribe made a guest appearance at the Lupe Fiasco side show two nights before and killed it. Though he played too early in the day and isn’t quite a stadium act, he threw everything at the audience, and remains my favourite hip hop artist this side of the world.

Scrabbling still solo through the masses I made it to The Vines who absolutely nailed it, having all beers raised, kids going ballistic and ended the set with a token smash up. The songs have melodies and Craig Nicholls had just enough sanity to maintain them, and so little that keeps a Vines show one of the greatest Aussie grunge acts to date. Perth outfit Snowman were on the same stage later on, and these guys are growing into their live shows very quickly, though the impact of their defining quirkiness was lost in festival fever.

Bob Evans played at dusk and provided the perfect escape from large crowds, evasive rock music and general festival seediness. Most might not even have been familiar with all his tunes but his easy listening acoustic set was just right for those wanting to chill. Finally for the Australian headliners, I didn’t make it to Jet, though I’ve heard from a number of lips that it was perhaps the biggest anticlimax of the day, expressed passionately by so many, I would love to know what went wrong?

Finally, The Presets, who’ve come a long way since their twelve noon Boiler room set just a year ago. Julian and Kim had an all adoring and largely rowdy crowd, articulating their love for the Sydney audience; it really did feel that this massive local gig was perhaps the best show of their career. I jumped when Kim did and left Big Day Out just after, with sore legs and ringing ears; I’m thinking it might just be my last.

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photo by Micheal Curtis

Dead Letter Circus – ‘Lines’

Here’s the next offering from a band who are fast becoming the darlings of the Brisbane alternative scene.  Dead Letter Circus are making some powerful friends in The Butterfly Effect, Karnivool and renowned producer Forrester Savell.  This track ‘Lines’ comes from their debut EP, which was produced by Forrester and is getting the final touches put on it before the band launch it in April.  Just like the previous track ‘The Mile’ that we previewed here, the boys lay on a healthy does of delay-soaked guitar and falsetto vocals, giving the track a rather dramatic feel, which is combined with the light and shade of the music.

Dead Letter Circus will be traversing the East Coast of Australia over the next four to six weeks, so check out their MySpace page for all the dates.

Previous post: Dead Letter Circus

http://www.myspace.com/deadlettercircus

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Courtesy of FasterLouder.com.au

Switchkicker – ‘Ever Wonder’

A couple of months ago – 4 months to be exact – I wrote up a post entitled Retrospective #1: Where The Bloody Hell Are They?; a post which basically highlighted some lesser-known acts that aren’t around anymore and if they were around, we would have blogged about them.  And I promise I’ll write up #2 soon!

But then one band went and screwed everything up by coming out of a self-imposed exile.  Switchkicker was presumed dead (not literally) following their last show at the Annandale Hotel in May 2006, but lo and behold Dan Sutherland, the brainchild behind Switchkicker, has resurrected the music and reinvigorated it by taking on an acoustic/electronica lifeform.  This means new songs, but a farewell to possibly a lot of the older material that was written in the vein of Nine Inch Nails electronica.  No doubt radio favourites such as ‘We’re Not Apart’ and ‘Drown’ will still remain though; songs which sound just as good acoustic as electric.

Not much is known about the new form of Switchkicker except that it will contain Dan and drummer Ben Ellingsworth, both of whom play in Many Machines On Nine, and from what I can assume they’ll run a backing track as well.  I think the acoustic format will definitely help differentiate Switchkicker from the more metal/industrial sounds of MM9.  It seems a natural progression for Switchkicker too as the most recent record Method 2 contained a fair dose of melody and acoustic guitar, as compared to the more Nine Inch Nails-influenced debut 17102.

But although it’s completely ruined my previous post, it’s great to have Switchkicker back live.  Those living in Sydney can catch him tonight at The Basement in Circular Quay.

http://www.switchkicker.com
http://www.myspace.com/switchkicker

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